The growing appetite for a luxurious lifestyle is on a significant high – a trend majorly impacting smart building market to witness rapid developments in the recent years. Experts further claim the digital wave to have swayed most of the business verticals, building & construction sector being no exception. The real-estate industry, until very recently, was one amongst the very few sectors that did not hop immediately on the digital transformation wagon. However, the emergence of smart sensors, lighting, heating & cooling, and other effective technologies such as the Internet of Things and cloud computing have literally altered the dynamics of the very nascent smart building industry to soon enter into the multi-billion-dollar fraternity. It has also been observed that smart building technologies contribute massively in saving energy and achieving energy efficiency targets. To foster the transition toward more sustainable energy systems, several regional governments are encouraging smart buildings & smart cities projects - another major trend uplifting the growth prospects of smart building market.

Elaborating further on the emerging market trends, it is imperative to take note of the technologies that are laying the foundation for smart building industry to prosper in the coming years.

Li-Fi to be the future of wireless communications in smart building market

Currently, wireless communication is at the center stage of modern lifestyles and is arguably one of the fundamental pillars of the information & communication technology. However, new technologies such as Li-Fi (Life Fidelity) have been increasingly gaining traction and opening up even greater growth prospects for the smart building industry players. Analysts believe that, Li-Fi technology (the transfer of data through light), though at its embryonic stage, is all set to transform both the wireless communications and smart lighting that will be deployed in smart buildings. What this means is in the near future, light will become a fundamental bearer of inter-communication and inter-connection. Quite possibly, thriving on the cusp of Li-Fi technology, one would seamlessly realize the potential of IoT and connected devices. In fact, several experts advocate Li-Fi to be the entry point of Building IoT (BIoT). In the backdrop of this scenario, Li-Fi will be one of the key technologies to be implemented in the smart building market.

With Li-Fi paving way as future of lighting and wireless communications, reliable reports estimate this technology to surpass a market valuation of USD 70 billion by 2023 from a mere record of 0.5 billion in 2016, exhibiting the annual growth rate of over 75% over 2017-2023. The attractive remuneration, according to experts is further likely to attract prominent smart building industry players. For instance, Philips Lighting is now partnering with Cisco, to leverage Power over Ethernet (PoE) as a base for smart building project that is to be constructed at the Deloitte Headquarter in Amsterdam. Reports reveal that the installation was 50% cheaper than the equivalent conventional installations – a factor further influencing the growth tactics in smart building market. Considering the above trends, it is no surprise that that telecom companies are pretty serious about using light as the medium to build up their business in the prospering field of smart buildings. Below mentioned are other prominent instances that indeed depict huge commercialization scope for smart building market.

International Enterprise (IE) Singapore has been facilitating partnerships with Certis Group & Eutech Cyberneric to deliver Singapore’s first Internet of Things Facilities Management (iFM) solutions in the identified markets. Reports reveal that the IFM platform will transform the way smart buildings are designed, operated, and implemented.

BuildingDNA, a leading player of smart building industry has recently announced partnership with Buddy Platform to integrate their technologies and provide smart building solutions to clients. According to sources, the partnership is likely to provide residential & smart buildings with real-time monitoring operations including gas, steam, electricity, humidity, temperature, and solar energy.

How smart building market will address energy efficiency?

Installation of smart devices and connected devices in smart buildings presents enormous opportunity to save energy. For example, the advanced building energy management systems that help reduce downtime and O&M costs, smart lighting that will switch lights on & off at optimal times, smart HVAC that can customize heating & cooling needs as per occupant’s requirement, smart windows that can darken or lighten depending on intensity of sunlight and other similar smart building components which includes smart plugs and smart power strip. As per reliable estimates, upgrading existing buildings with automating controls and integrated systems can realize 30% to 50% of energy savings.

The dramatic changes in energy efficiency, occupant experience, and comfort brought about by these smart devices have been acknowledged as the prominent factors responsible for significant smart building industry expansion. The industry is further likely to benefit from projects that will connect smart buildings to smart grids and smart vehicles. With analysts expecting these technologies to mature sooner than anticipated, smart building market potential seems to be quite promising in the long run. It would be further interesting to see how the industry players will be able to tap the smart buildings market, in terms of commercialization as well as tech-interventions.